2016-04-16

It's not nearly a lonely life at sea as it once was; in fact, I have heard some mutterings from old salts that the ability to receive a cellphone call or text in the middle of the ocean is not so much a glittering advancement as it is an unsolicited horror. Nonetheless, the same cannot be said of the self-taught boat restorer/mechanic/carpenter/welder/bottle drainer and washer. That would be me.

I spend most of my time alone. I work alone from a home office in monkish solitude and I work (thanks to an employed Mrs. Alchemy) alone the vast majority of the time aboard Alchemy, winter and summer, as we crawl at reduced speed toward our goal of Sailing Away. I'm not saying I mutter to myself in the bowels of the boat on dark, windswept winter days, but I do have a keen sense of the acoustics of the vessel.

Writing this blog (also done alone) is a way to organize my thoughts as much as it is a chronicle of what I'm doing and what occurs to me while I'm doing it. It's not radically different in tone, I've found, to the writings, in blog or book or forum post form, to the musings of the mostly men who bother to write about this pursuit, hobby, life goal or lifestyle. A certain taciturnity takes hold, limned with superstition; the willingness to discuss what one is up to declines, just as the eagerness to forecast even a provisional date of departure is avoided, lest Neptune notice and throw a trident in the works. My stock line is "drop by for a rum when the boat's lit up like a Plymouth whorehouse: that'll be one week's notice".

But this post, marking as it does another numerical milestone, or, I suppose, cardinal buoy, in our voyage toward functionality, is made in appreciation of the advice, help, constructive criticism and useful tips I've received from readers of this blog since (gasp) 2007. A great deal has happened in those years, or at least has been mentioned in just over 300 posts. Quite a bit more, and of some interest, I hope, is to come. If my readers have liked what I've chronicled to date, there's plenty to anticipate, given that Alchemy is now mobile by prop and sail.

A preview of the next tranche of posts would be precipitous, but would probably be hard to view, thanks to the blaze of welding ahead. More, however, is very much to come, and thank you for what is past. Launch 2016 is in 14 days. Tomorrow and Monday are shorts weather: there's a ladder in my future.

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The online log of S/V Alchemy, her restoration, her crew and their voyage

“You never enjoy the world aright till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars: and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world.”-Thomas Traherne

"He that has patience may compass anything."-François Rabelais

"The Great Lakes sailor is wild-ocean nurtured; as much of an audacious mariner as any. "-Herman Melville

"[The sea is] neither cruel nor kind ... Any apparent virtues it may have, and all its vices, are seen only in relation to the spirit of man who pits himself, in ships of his own building, against its insensate power."-Denys Rayner

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” -Charles Bukowski

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." -Yoko Ono

My wife, my high-school-aged son and I plan to start voyaging in 2018 for an estimated five to six years. I hope to move us aboard before that point to work out the kinks of living on a boat.

The careful reader will note the URL of this blog has "alchemy 2009" in it, a reference not only to our boat's name, but also to the original, anticipated departure date.

This is called "tempting the gods of the sea and life in general" and will not be modified. You have to know when to fight, and when to appease. Frankly, it matters that we go, not when we go. This is a good lesson for all aspiring voyagers, I think: the hubris of long-range planning lurks like an evil watermark on every "to-do" list.

Here you will find various notes on our preparations, labours and education as we try to become better sailors in a good old boat. I hope to continue to discuss in this blog the realities of preparing for a marine-focused extended sabbatical, the issues both mundane and philosophical confronting the potential cruiser, and the efforts required by everyone involved to make it happen.

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Possibly fictional bio

Middle-aged, bookish Canadian with compact family in process of exploding career and prospects in favour of lengthy, low-rent sabbatical has boat, seeks ocean. Must have non-smoking bilges.
All contents (C) 2007-2017 M. Dacey/Dark Star Productions